Svendsen & Putrevu (1994) revealed that the much larger off-shore than vertical effective viscosity for longshore currents is the consequence of a shear dispersion mechanism. The multi-mode representation for the flow gives a mathematical framework within which a more general derivation can be made. It is shown that to a first approximation the horizontal shear dispersion tensor for velocity is the same as that for solutes.

In this theoretical report we explore the deformation and stability of a power-law non-Newtonian slender drop embedded in a Newtonian liquid undergoing a nonlinear extensional creeping flow. The dimensionless parameters describing this problem are: the capillary number $(Ca\gg 1)$, the viscosity ratio $(\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}\ll 1)$, the power-law index $(n)$ and the nonlinear intensity of the flow $(|E|\ll 1)$. Asymptotic analytical solutions were obtained near the centre and close to the end of the drop suggesting that only Newtonian and shear thinning drops $(n\leqslant 1)$ with pointed ends are possible. We described the shape of the drop as a series expansion about the centre of the drop, and performed a stability analysis in order to distinguish between stable and unstable stationary states and to establish the breakup point. Our findings suggest: (i) shear thinning drops are less elongated than Newtonian drops, (ii) as non-Newtonian effects increase or as $n$ decreases, breakup becomes more difficult, and (iii) as the flow becomes more nonlinear, breakup is facilitated.

The nature of the flow of a dissociating diatomic gas in a convergent-divergent supersonic nozzle is investigated by measuring the distribution of flow parameters along the nozzle. Two parameters are measured, namely the degree of dissociation and the static pressure. The degree of dissociation is measured by a spectroscopic method. The pressure is measured by [xcup ]-tube manometers. The results are compared with Bray's (1959) theory and Logan's (1957) prediction.

In experiments, Plesniak, Mehta & Johnson (1994) have noted that curved two-stream mixing layers are susceptible to centrifugal instabilities under the condition that the slower of the streams curves towards the faster one; this condition is analogous to the concave curvature condition for the stability of the flow over a plate. The modes which arise manifest themselves as vortices aligned with the dominant flow direction. Previous numerical and analytical work has elucidated the structure of these vortices within incompressible mixing layers; Otto, Jackson & Hu (1996). In this paper we go on to investigate the rôles of compressibility and heating in determining the streamwise fate of Görtler vortices within these situations.

The development of the disturbances is monitored downstream and curves of neutral stability are plotted. The effect of changing the Mach number and free-stream temperatures is studied in detail. It is found that for certain parameter régimes modes can occur within convexly curved, or ‘stable’ mixing layers; these ‘thermal modes’ have no counterpart within incompressible mixing layers. By making use of a large Görtler number analysis we are able to verify our numerical results, and derive a very simple condition which yields information about the parameter ranges for which certain modes are likely to occur. As an aside this method can be used to show that no degree of wall cooling will allow sustained growth of Görtler vortices within boundary layers over convex plates.

The theory of two-layer hydraulics is extended to topography with co-varying width and height. When these variations of the non-dimensional width and total depth have a power law relationship, the solutions can still be presented in the Froude-number plane for both unidirectional and exchange flows. These differ from previous solutions, which were limited to treating width and height variations separately.

The subgrid-scale (SGS) physics in the convective atmospheric surface layer is studied using the SGS stress and SGS scalar flux. We derive the budget equations for the conditional mean SGS stress and SGS temperature flux and show that, for transport-equation-based SGS models, the budget terms must be correctly predicted by the SGS model in order for large-eddy simulation (LES) to reproduce the resolvable-scale velocity and temperature probability density functions. Field data from the Advection Horizontal Array Turbulence Study, which notably includes measurements of the fluctuating pressure and the advection of the velocity and temperature fields, are then used to analyse the budget equations. The results reveal the complex behaviour of the dynamics of the convective atmospheric surface layer. The budgets of the conditional mean SGS shear stress and SGS temperature flux are an approximate balance between the conditional mean production and pressure destruction, with the latter causing return to isotropy. The budgets of the normal SGS stress components are more complex. For strongly convective surface layers, energy is redistributed from the (smaller) vertical to the (larger) horizontal stress components during downdrafts, resulting in generation of anisotropy by the conditional mean SGS pressure–strain-rate correlation; wall pressure reflections can also enhance the anisotropy. The conditional mean SGS pressure transport, meanwhile, is a significant source of energy during updrafts as a result of the near-wall pressure minima. The vertical advection also plays a significant role in the transfer of SGS energy. For weakly convective surface layers, pressure transport is small while the SGS pressure–strain-rate correlation reverts to its usual role of causing return to isotropy. The results of the present study, particularly for the conditional mean SGS pressure–strain-rate correlation, provide new insights into the SGS physics first educed in a recent analysis of the mean SGS budgets by Nguyen et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 729, 2013, pp. 388–422) and have important implications for near-wall models utilizing SGS transport equations in the convective atmospheric surface layer.

One method to grow artificial body tissue is to place a porous scaffold seeded with cells, known as a tissue construct, into a rotating bioreactor filled with a nutrient-rich fluid. The flow within the bioreactor is affected by the movement of the construct relative to the bioreactor which, in turn, is affected by the hydrodynamical and gravitational forces the construct experiences. The construct motion is thus coupled to the flow within the bioreactor. Over the time scale of a few hours, the construct appears to move in a periodic orbit but, over tens of hours, the construct drifts from periodicity. In the biological literature, this effect is often attributed to the change in density of the construct that occurs via tissue growth. In this paper, we show that weak inertia can cause the construct to drift from its periodic orbit over the same time scale as tissue growth. We consider the coupled flow and construct motion problem within a rotating high-aspect-ratio vessel bioreactor. Using an asymptotic analysis, we investigate the case where the Reynolds number is large but the geometry of the bioreactor yields a small reduced Reynolds number, resulting in a weak inertial effect. In particular, to accurately couple the bioreactor and porous flow regions, we extend the nested boundary layer analysis of Dalwadi et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 798, 2016, pp. 88–139) to include moving walls and the thin region between the porous construct and the bioreactor wall. This allows us to derive a closed system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations for the construct trajectory, from which we show that neglecting inertia results in periodic orbits; we solve the inertia-free problem analytically, calculating the periodic orbits in terms of the system parameters. Using a multiple-scale analysis, we then systematically derive a simpler system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations that describe the long-time drift of the construct due to the effect of weak inertia. We investigate the bifurcations of the construct trajectory behaviour, and the limit cycles that appear when the construct is less dense than the surrounding fluid and the rotation rate is large enough. Thus, we are able to predict when the tissue construct will drift towards a stable limit cycle within the bioreactor and when it will drift out until it hits the bioreactor edge.

Numerical simulations are performed to study three-dimensional hydrodynamic flows in a sudden expansion of rectangular ducts. Separation phenomena are investigated through the analysis of flow topology and streamline patterns. Scaling laws describing the evolution of the reattachment length of the vortical areas that appear behind the cross-section enlargement are derived. The results discussed in this paper are required as a starting point to investigate the effects of an applied homogeneous magnetic field on separation phenomena in a geometry with a sudden expansion.

This study presents a detailed scaling analysis quantifying the transient behaviour of natural convection in a reservoir model induced by iso-flux surface heating. It is found that horizontal conduction, which has often been neglected in previous analyses, plays an important role in the development of the flow. Depending on the Rayleigh number, three possible pathways through which the flow develops towards the final steady state are identified. A thermal boundary layer initially grows downwards from the surface. When the thermal boundary layer reaches the sloping bottom and becomes indistinct, a horizontal temperature gradient establishes due to the increasing water depth in the offshore direction. A flow is then driven towards the offshore direction by a buoyancy-induced horizontal pressure gradient, which convects away the heat input from the water surface. On the other hand, the horizontal temperature gradient also conducts heat away. The flow behaviour is determined by the interaction between the horizontal conduction and convection. An interesting flow feature revealed by the present scaling analysis is that the region across which the thermal boundary layer encompasses the full water depth shrinks over time at a certain stage of the flow development. The shrinking process eventually stops when this region coincides with a conduction-dominated subregion. The present scaling results are verified by corresponding numerical simulations.

Experimental data are presented for the vortex flow in a nominally two-dimensional circular cavity. The vortex is driven by a separated shear layer along an open section of the cavity circumference. It is shown that the core vortex flow is perturbed three-dimensionally. An inviscid analysis of an ideal core (solid body) vortex is given and it is shown that this flow contains a steady perturbation whose characteristics are almost exactly those identified in the experiments. Viscous effects reduce (by a few per cent) the spanwise wavelength of the perturbation and also lead, via spatial variations in Reynolds stress, to a modification of the core flow so that the radial profile of the circumferential velocity is ‘S’-shaped, rather than linear.